(10-24-2017 04:30 PM)Clarity Wrote:  Russell was relied on a lot. You don't easily replace a 25 ppg scorer that you leaned on for the entire season. Braun is not going to be able to pick up all of that slack, that's if he can even stay healthy. Especially from 3 I don't see a lot of perimeter threats. Which is why I am surprised by a lot of people being so confident in GCU. Losing Russell is a much bigger loss than most think.

Lately my man Clarity is nailing it with his post. Braun is good and has great character but I can almost guarantee a couple of things about GCU:
1. Braun is not going to be MVP of WAC. I can think of several players on Bakersfield and NMSU that are better than Braun, and maybe even Utah Valley. If Braun/Tony Romo stays healthy the whole season I would be surprised as well.

2. 4th place finish for GCU. My money is on NMSU, Bakersfield or Utah Valley to win the WAC. Any of those 3 for 1st place.

Going back to my boys that post here from GCU who are still crying about Russell (including Russell who whines on Twitter). Baker was legit. Both Russell and Baker were legit MVP candidates and Baker got it. The stats were practically identical. Baker was just a 1st round draft pick to the NBA G League. When Pascal was passed over for MVP his freshman year for a little fat slow ball hog that was a whole different story. Where's Martez now? Pascal was an NBA 1st round draft pick the following year and MVP of the WAC (should have been consecutive MVPs) who later was the MVP of the NBA G championship series last year so quit comparing your perceived Russell snub with the Pascal snub his freshman year. It's a ridiculous comparison.

The loss of Russell is huge for GCU. The loss of Baker is not. Baker himself told me one time that our 4 star Mcdonalds All-American candidate was better than him (Harrs)! This coming from Baker himself! Buchanan, the other guard Jans recruited I'm told is tearing it up at practice and giving Harris a run for his money. Ndir (also better than Braun), is super good, but suffers the same problem as Braun being injury prone. As far as losing Huggins we have an Honorable All-American conference player of the year transfer (Zach Lofton) who I'm also being told runs circles around Huggins. BTW, another player better than Braun. Chuha, also better than Braun. Utah Valley returns 5 starters and has some pretty good additions to a loaded team. Don't ever count out Barnes and his group. They are scrappy and have a very smart old senior point guard and that forward that went wild in the NIT that looks like a mini Lebron is damn good. For whatever reason the press and GCU's propaganda machine has propelled them to a preseason number 1 pick in many polls. I'm not drinking the purple kool aid just yet. Don't start peeling your shirt off just yet in celebration Dan. My money is on the program that has 23 NCAA tourney appearances, 5 Sweet Sixteens, a Final Four, 15 regular season conference championships and 9 conference tourney championships. Included in those numbers are 10 WAC tournament and regular season championships with many of those in the old WAC which included Utah State, Nevada, and La Tech. I guess GCU has going for them is their home crowd which I'm so not tired of hearing about. Can we have some more threads and articles about the Havocs? BTW, anyone have the stats for which place it's harder to win, GCU arena or the Pan American Center?